Thursday, April 18, 2019

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT THURSDAY 4/18-FRIDAY 4/19/2019 NEWSDUMP EDITION


(WORK IN PROGRESS, ADDITIONS, EDITING, UPDATES ETC. THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING)



In Brooklyn, New York a judge dismissing a court challenge to mandatory measles vaccinations in neighborhoods with large Orthodox Jewish populations.

There's been a large measles outbreak in the New York area after an unvaccinated child returned from a trip to Israel.   More than 300 people have been infected.

Both city authorities and authorities in suburban  Rockland County moving with emergency plans requiring vaccinations in the face of religiously based objections to vaccination.

People who cannot prove vaccination must be vaccinated or face a 1-thousand dollar fine.


The big Newsdump event of the week Thursday with release of the redacted report of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller into matters related to President Trump.

Congressional leaders got it first, then it was released through the Justice Department's website.

More on this story in a separate post........LINK

Protest bans in Paris for Yellow Vests demonstrations Saturday with Notre-Dame Cathedral added to the usual list of banned locations like the Champs-Elysees.

In France Thursday a day to honor firefighters who fought Monday night's blaze at the Notre-Dame Cathedral.

President Emmanuel Macron receiving 270 of the 400 firefighters at the presidential palace and announcing that they will receive a gold medal.

A public ceremony held Thursday afternoon in their honor.

Was the fire at Notre-Dame something other than an accident?   Was it an attack?    French politician Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of the Gaullist Doubt France Party, took heat for suggesting the notion  Tuesday morning when he said "We live in a crazy country?" but again broached the topic Thursday.

Interviewed on BFM-TV he said in part:


"I simply asked a question in the morning.....Do not we have a right to know, anyway, in the 21st century, a democracy...to say,  'we want to know what happened?'".


United Kingdom Independence Party leader Gerard Batten tweeted Thursday: 

"875 churches vandalized in France in 2018.  And yet when Notre-Dame goes up in flames there is minimal analysis of the possible causes in the MSM & it is immediately said to be an accident.   Maybe, but I would expect to see intense speculation in the media"


In Northern Ireland a 29 year-old journalist was shot dead during rioting in Derry (Londonderry) Thursday night.    The rioting followed police raids on homes in the area.   The murder called a "terrorist incident" with "dissident republicans" blamed.

Lyra McKee was gunned down amidst a confrontation that included firebombs being thrown at police land rovers in the area.

In Minneapolis, the trial of Minneapolis Police Officer Mohamed Noor, charged in the July 2017 shooting death of Australian Justine Damond continued this week.     Thursday Officer Noor's partner that night, Matthew Harrity, testified.   More from ABC in Australia.....LINK


The government backed by the United Nations and ostensibly the United States in Libya says there is "silence" from international allies in the face of a military advance on the small part of Libya it controls.

The "Wall Street Journal" reported last week that Saudi Arabia pledged millions to support General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army which is pressing the attack against the Government of National Accord.

GNA Prime Minister Fayez el-Serraj says people in his part of Libya:

"frustrated by the silence of the international community"


He warns about the danger of ISIS terrorism because of the fighting.

Fayez el-Serraj also accused France of persistent support for the LNA opposition forces and there are claims that French military drones carried out airstrikes on GNA forces near Tripoli early Thursday morning.

The "Southfront" website reports that close Saudi ally the United Arab Emirates is providing military support for the LNA.

US military forces in Libya were quickly removed from the country when General Haftar began his offensive a few weeks ago.


WHEN ONE ADDS UP THE REGIONAL PICTURE WITH THE DEMONSTRATIONS FORCING CHANGE OF THE LEFT-LEANING SECULAR REGIME IN ALGERIA AND THE RULE OF GENERAL OMAR-AL BASHIR COMING TO AN ABRUPT END IN SUDAN, ONE IS LEFT WITH THE IMPRESSION OF A REGIONAL 'ARAB SPRING-REGIME CHANGE' SITUATION UNFOLDING IN NORTHERN AFRICA.



A senior North Korean official says Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is an impediment to talks between the United States and North Korea.

Kwon Jong Gun, director of the American affairs department of the Foreign Ministry  in issued a statement saying in part:

"Pompeo, US Secretary of State, is talking nonsense"


North Korea wants someone to replace Pompeo in negotiations.

The United States announcing new sanctions on three left-wing ruled Latin American countries Wednesday.    Cuba targeted with a decision to allow US citizens to sue Cuban businesses operating on properties seized by the Cuban government.

The US is also moving to limit any travel to Cuba other than for family visits and to limit money transfers to Cuba.  The US notes Cuba's involvement in propping up the Maduro government in Venezuela.

Nicaragua's Vice-President Laureano Oretga Murillo, wife of President Daniel Ortega, sanctioned by the US for money laundering and corruption.   Also targeted in relation to Nicaragua is Bancorp, a bank said to be involved in money laundering operations related to Nicaragua.

Venezuela's Central Bank also being sanctioned by the United States along with its Director.

In Japan Thursday the Supreme Court rejecting an appeal of the detention of former Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn after his fourth arrest.    Tokyo District Court approved an extension of his detention through Monday.

More from Japan's Kyodo News Agency.......HERE


Facebook banning a dozen individuals and organizations in the UK described as "far-right" claiming they "spread hate".   The British National Party, the English Defense League among the groups.  Ex-BNP leader Nick Griffin and EDL founding member Paul Ray among the individuals.

"praise and support for the groups or named individuals would no longer be allowed"


on Facebook according to the BBC.

"....there is no constitutional difference between WikiLeaks and the New York Times..."


That's the opinion of legal scholar Alan Dershowitz.

Commenting on the case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in "The Hill", Dershowitz notes he offered legal advice to British lawyers defending Assange some years ago and that the Justice Department's decision to go after Assange for computer hacking is an attempt to get around the First Amendment's protection of journalists.

Dershowitz's opinion piece is at the link......HERE

Israel closing crossings into Gaza and Palestinian areas in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) for the Passover holiday,    From Friday through Saturday April 27th only humanitarian and exceptional cases will be allowed through crossings.

In the African nation of Mali, the Prime Minister and his cabinet resigning amidst ethnic violence in the country.    Much of the country's northern population driven to the south and living near different ethnic groups because of Al-Qaeda jihadists control of the north.

In South Africa 13 reported dead after part of a church collapsed Thursday night.   Heavy rains may have been responsible for the collapse at a Pentecostal church in Kwazulu-Natal province.

Three famous mountain climbers are presumed dead after an avalanche in Canada.   Americans Jess Rosskelley and Austrians David Lama and Hanjorg Auer were trying to climb the east face of Howse Peak on the Icefields Parkway in the Banff National Park.

And that's the way it really is as we come into Friday morning April 19th, 2019 Good Friday.

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